Congress Adjourns with Tech Bills Unfinished

When the U.S. Congress adjourned in the early morning hours Saturday, it left a number of technology-related bills unfinished, including two bills addressing fraudulent access to personal telephone records. Congress also failed to pass a wide-ranging broadband bill that would replace local franchise rules with a national system for telecom providers launching Internet Protocol-based television services in competition with cable TV. Several civil liberties groups had opposed the broadband bill as it lacked protections for so-called net neutrality. Net neutrality advocates want a law that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing service to Web sites offering competing content, and they have successfully halted the Senate version of the broadband bill, despite heavy lobbying from large broadband providers. And although U.S. President George Bush called on Congress to pass legislation authorizing a controversial National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program, two bills making it easier for the government to conduct surveillance without court-ordered warrants also stalled. Congress still has more time to act on the telecom legislation this year, however. After a month-plus break allowing lawmakers to focus on the Nov. 7 election, Congress will return for a lame-duck session Nov. 9.